Growing Up is Hard but Your Best Friend Alwaves Understands
by reindeerguardian
Summary: Mrs. Condesce's sixth grade class is going on a field trip to the aquarium and no one could be happier than Feferi Peixes. Unfortunately, mother nature has other plans for her. Thank Goodness her best friend is always there to help


Feferi Peixes was Eridan Ampora's best friend. They'd been best friends for as long as anyone could remember. Always there for one another, always ready to defend the other, always ready to help the other, to make them laugh-unwanted or not- to help each other in any and every way possible. They did everything together. And doing everything together had no exceptions. So, when they were to pick buddies to pair up with for a class field trip, it was no surprise that they ended up together.

Mrs. Condesce's sixth grade class was boarding a bus that would take them to the aquarium, to do a study on undersea life. Feferi bounced in her seat excitedly, jabbering away about how she wanted to see the cuttlefish. Eridan just smiled and nodded, knowing from experience not to get too involved when she started on marine life.

The drive there was long. Three hours long, to be exact. Eridan sighed, looking around the bus for the umpteenth time, watching the others interact. Feferi had fallen asleep and was leaning on his shoulder. He absently pushed back a strand of her hair and returned to watching the scene roll by out the window. He happened to catch a bit of the conversation going on behind him between three of the girls in his class, Terezi Pyrope, Kanaya Maryam, and Vriska Serket.

"…really? Just last week?" Terezi was asking.

"Yep, last week, sure as my name's Vriska!" he could already picture her boasting face. Terezi seemed to be pondering this, when she turned to Kanaya.

"When did you?" She asked.

"A few months ago." She replied, modest as always.

He tuned out after this, not knowing-or caring- what they were talking about, though he had an idea. Probably just something girly and stupid. Instead he listened to the careful in and out of Feferi's breathing.

It wasn't long after this that they arrived and she awoke to Eridan shaking her by the shoulder lightly.

"Fef, wake up, we're here." She instantly sprang up, grabbing him and clambering off the bus as fast as possible.

The excited sounds of sixth grade voices chattering with gossip, with ecstatic views on being anywhere but school were ignored by Eridan, who simply watched his best friend dart about the entrance because she was too eager to do anything else. She was talking a mile a minute, but he wasn't entirely listening. Just watching her. A guide met the group at the gates, addressing them in a friendly manner. Mrs. Condesce walked in the back of the group, ensuring that none of them snuck off.

They watched as bottlenose dolphins dove about, and octopi slinked along in the dark corners of their glass. Hordes of brightly colored angelfish and beta fish skittered by as they all watched enraptured. Their guide was jittering happily, pointing at a large manatee nearby, when Feferi turned to her friend and whispered:

"Eridan."

"What?" he whispered back.

"I have to pee." He suppressed the urge to giggle and looked at her.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Come with me to the bathroom."

"We're not supposed to leave, Fef."

"Nobody's watching, we can be quick! C'mon, please?" She was giving him sad puppy dog eyes. He sighed. Like he could ever say no to her.

"Yeah, okay. But we gotta be quick."

"Dolphinately." She giggled as they quietly snuck away.

Eridan was no biologist, but he was sure that it didn't take ten minutes for one girl to pee. He thought about going in after her. But there was the possibility that she was simply taking care of business. That and the fact that he didn't want to be caught walking into the girls bathroom. He waited five more minutes. Five minutes turned into ten. Ten minutes turned into twenty. He decided to check on her.

"Fef?" he hissed slinking nervously into the room. There was no reply. He tried again.

"Fef? You okay?" she banged on the stall door.

"Go away!" she sounded upset. He did not go away. He walked over and stood outside the stall she was in.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, a bit of worry showing through in his tone.

"Nothing. Go away." It was unlike her to tell him off, and even more unlike her to use the word 'nothing' instead of her usual punned 'nofin'.

"C'mon Fef, spill it, what's up? Did I do somefin wrong?" She was quiet for a long moment.

"No. I've just got…problems." She was hesitant on the last word.

"Problems? What kinda problems?" She didn't answer. "Fef?" he prompted again, "What kinda problems?" There was another moment of silence before the click of the lock coming undone and the stall door opening. There was Feferi, standing in the doorway. He didn't notice anything unusual at first. But once he did, it was hard to avert his attention anywhere else. Eridan clasped a hand over his mouth to keep from offending her in any way. There was a large red stain tainting the subtle greens and blues of her skirt.

"I…" was all she could manage, almost in tears. She leaned against the wall and covered her face with her hands. He instinctively walked over and gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, you're okay." He said comfortingly, giving her a squeeze. "You're fine. You're just uh…growin' up. That's all." He said awkwardly, trying to reassure her.

"What do I do?" she asked, looking up at him. He was at a loss for words.

"Stay here," he said finally. "I'll be right back." And with a small smile of assurance, he walked out of the girl's bathroom and retraced their steps back to the group of middle schoolers. While the majority of them seemed to be enraptured, Vriska and Kanaya were engaged in their own conversation. He approached them. Vriska looked up at him and almost smiled.

"W-well look who it is," she giggled, "Mr. can't say a w-word w-without trippin over double-u's." He ignored her comment and looked to Kanaya instead.

"Do you guys…uh…do you think you could help me with somethin'?" They both gave him strange looks.

"Help you with what?" Vriska asked. Terezi, who'd been ignoring them-and the entire tour-for the most part interjected instead.

"Allow me, if you will. Peixes started her period, am I right?" Eridan looked at her, both in shock and embarrassment.

"How'd you know?"

"Call it intuition, if you'd like." She laughed, tapping her glasses. Kanaya looked at him, and raised an eyebrow.

"Where is she?"

"In the bathroom." Apparently that was all he needed to say, because the three girls expertly absconded with him without causing any disturbance.

When he returned, Eridan was a bit hesitant to reenter the girls' room, surrounded by girls. He decided to suck it up and go in after his friend, other females or not. Feferi was still in the stall he'd left her in, knees pulled up to her chest. She looked up in surprise to see the trio of newcomers. She opened her mouth to say something, but Terezi cut her off.

"Save us the details, please." Kanaya rummaged around in her bag, and pulled out a few things Eridan wished he'd stayed outside for. He stood there awkwardly as they explained their functions and the necessities of such objects. He endured their talking for as long as he could, but drew the line when they began telling of personal experiences.

"Yeah, like this one time when I was—"

"Alright! Alright! Thank you, ladies, but I don't need any more of _this_!" He hissed, gesticulating to all of them. They looked at him, and then to one another and giggled.

"Yeah, well, that's what you get for having a girl for your best friend." Terezi smiled to him-not directly at him but in his general direction.

"I for one, applaud you. I certainly wouldn't have put up with this had I been you. I would've…well I don't know what Id've done had I been male. Faint, probably. Most boys our age aren't mature enough to endure most of this." Kanaya sighed.

"I dunno. I think they could handle it." Vriska shrugged. Eridan shook his head and walked over to Feferi.

"You…ready to go back?" He asked. She stood up, exposing the large red stain on her skirt. They all shrunk back in response and she blushed.

"What do I do about…this?" None of them had extra clothes. They were about to resort to their last option: asking Mrs. Condesce-she was female after all, she couldn't be _that_ heartless, right? Thankfully they didn't need to. Instead, Eridan pulled off the sweatshirt he was wearing and wrapped it around her waist.

"There. Keep it. Think of it as, uh, a comin'-of-age gift or somethin'." He mumbled. She looked at him for a long moment before smiling widely and wrapping her arms around him tightly.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, don't mention it." He muttered, patting her softly. He looked over to see Vriska making kissy faces at him, and Kanaya raising her eyebrows with a small smile. Terezi cleared her throat.

"Alright, well, I hate to break up a good hugging session as much as the next guy, but we've gone forever and if ol' Condy finds out we've been gone there's gonna be hell to pay."

And with that, their small party made their way back to the rest of the group, and for the rest of the day-due to Vriska mentioning that she would knock the teeth out of anyone who questioned the girl-no one asked why Feferi was wearing Eridan's sweatshirt, and no one asked why the two were holding hands. Especially not Eridan. Why question a good thing?

"Eridan! Look, do you see that? That's a Metasepia Pfefferi!"

"I know Fef, you've showed me a million times already." But he smiled anyways.

The ride home was not nearly as long as the way there had been. Although Eridan wished it could've lasted longer. Another moment of Feferi sleeping on his shoulder was not another moment to take for granted.

He wondered if they'd always be best friends. There wasn't anything he could think of that would be more worth living for. He'd go through hell and back for this girl. Although, he reasoned, she'd do the same for him anytime. That's what best friends are for.


End file.
